Haryana govt drops charge-sheet against Khemka on Vadra issue

In a major relief to senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka, the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government in Haryana has dropped the charge-sheet against him in the controversial land deal case relating to Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra.

Official sources on Wednesday said Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar cleared the file to drop the charge-sheet against Khemka last week.

Khemka was chargesheeted in December 2013 by then Congress government in Haryana led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda for “administrative misconduct” and “exceeding his jurisdiction” in cancelling the mutation of the Rs.58 crore controversial land deal of October 2012 between Vadra’s company Skylight Hospitality and realty giant DLF.

The cancellation of the land deal’s mutation was done in October 2012 by Khemka.

The dropping of the charge-sheet was based on the reply submitted by the officer to the Haryana government and a personal hearing given to Khemka by Chief Minister Khattar on October 6 this year.

Khemka, who had blown the lid off the shady land deals by Vadra and his companies in Haryana’s national capital region (NCR) area, was transferred from his post by the previous Hooda government as he was in the process of initiating action against Vadra.

Khemka had also ordered an inquiry into the undervaluation of land deals done in four districts in Haryana, adjoining Delhi, by Vadra.